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View Poll Results: Which cities do you prefer & seem more interesting?
Canadian cities 54 48.21%
Nordic cities 58 51.79%
Voters: 112. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 08-29-2014, 11:23 AM
 
Location: Austin, TX
12,059 posts, read 13,820,688 times
Reputation: 7256

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Acajack View Post
I have friends who live a few km away from here:

http://goo.gl/maps/rKTbu

This place (Nesttun) has existed for some time as a village at least, but almost everything that's there has been built in the contemporary era.

Of course, they still basically always go there by car, as it's not really a pedestrian-accessible area for most local residents.

But it's still more attractive than this:

http://goo.gl/maps/7wJim
I did street view in the first photo, the houses are okay if a little dated, the lawns are unkempt, not sure if perhaps that is how they like it, but it doesn't look very appealing to me.

I agree European town centers are prettier than North American, but ours are built for comfort and convenience. That was kind of the point of the new world, to do things differently.
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Old 08-29-2014, 11:31 AM
 
Location: Austin, TX
12,059 posts, read 13,820,688 times
Reputation: 7256

I have to say the downtown Nordic centers look quite nice and are more walkable. Look at the top photo, there are still large surface parking lots, surrounded by various skyscrapers. Not the most interesting of walks. But the post above yours had a delightful downtown with cafes, etc...

However, for suburbia, North America rules.
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Old 08-29-2014, 11:33 AM
 
Location: Finland
24,144 posts, read 24,703,456 times
Reputation: 11103
Quote:
Originally Posted by iNviNciBL3 View Post
Or we just don't like living in environment where we are packed like sardines, we like opening the window and hearing birds chirping and the sound of the trees flowing in the wind without the sound of squeaky breaks and car horns.
Sardines:


And to add: we are in the position that the Nordic capitals are growing more than housing is constructed, while in NA cities are losing population, because the inner city areas aren't lucrative. The tide has turned here.
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Old 08-29-2014, 11:36 AM
 
Location: Colorado
1,523 posts, read 2,853,087 times
Reputation: 2220
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ariete View Post
Looks like an European city. Livable. That might come as a surprise to you. You Americans say you're from Atlanta, Chicago, LA, Baltimore or something, but you live 30 miles from the city, in a totally different community. Because the city centres are "unlivable", filled with criminals and poor people.

The situation is not the same here. The centre areas are the most valuable.
No doubt that there are some Nordic urban centers are more liveable than those of some American cities, but you seem to be confusing the projects/hood with "city centers". Areas filled with the poor and criminals are not in the city centers. City centers are usually expensive areas to live in with many high-income people. Poor areas tend to located on the fringes of cities, or in certain sub-sections. The pictures of urban centers you have provided just like the urban centers in a small city like Baltimore or Cincinnati.

Anyways, the discussion is on Canada, not the US. I am not sure why you are bringing a foreign country into the mix. I used to live in Montreal and your pictures look exactly like the off-the-beaten-path parts. That isn't a bad thing, but I find it odd that you would use pictures of below-average looking places to prove that Nordic cities are superior to Canadian cities.

Quote:
Originally Posted by cBach View Post
The second view looks like a lower middle class neighborhood in Canada/US. Yet it probably has prices of Beverly Hills or Hawaii.
Yup.
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Old 08-29-2014, 11:40 AM
 
Location: Gatineau, Québec
26,785 posts, read 37,782,011 times
Reputation: 11561
Quote:
Originally Posted by cBach View Post
I have to say the downtown Nordic centers look quite nice and are more walkable. Look at the top photo, there are still large surface parking lots, surrounded by various skyscrapers. Not the most interesting of walks. .
That wasn't the best picture of a neighbourhood main street in Toronto.

Most of them look more like this:

http://goo.gl/maps/GgUrj
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Old 08-29-2014, 11:43 AM
 
Location: M I N N E S O T A
14,799 posts, read 21,417,406 times
Reputation: 9263
Quote:
Originally Posted by cBach View Post
I have to say the downtown Nordic centers look quite nice and are more walkable. Look at the top photo, there are still large surface parking lots, surrounded by various skyscrapers. Not the most interesting of walks. But the post above yours had a delightful downtown with cafes, etc...

However, for suburbia, North America rules.
They sure are but the lack of large condo buildings that you see in Canadian cities doesnt make it as dense.
if you want true density you build upward, they are good at doing that in Canada.
i do agree Nordic cities seem quite livable, better infrastructure for urban living, Oslo has high speed rail to its airport plus i'm pretty sure the whole world looks to Stockholm when a city wants to upgrade its bicycle infrastructure.
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Old 08-29-2014, 11:46 AM
 
Location: M I N N E S O T A
14,799 posts, read 21,417,406 times
Reputation: 9263
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ariete View Post
Sardines:


And to add: we are in the position that the Nordic capitals are growing more than housing is constructed, while in NA cities are losing population, because the inner city areas aren't lucrative. The tide has turned here.
Really? didn't know that

Quote:
Originally Posted by hobbesdj View Post
Anyways, the discussion is on Canada, not the US. I am not sure why you are bringing a foreign country into the mix. I used to live in Montreal and your pictures look exactly like the off-the-beaten-path parts. That isn't a bad thing, but I find it odd that you would use pictures of below-average looking places to prove that Nordic cities are superior to Canadian cities.
Welcome to the world forum...
forum is about Canadian cities and Nordic cities and every once in a while you get the "Oh but America this!!!" "Oh but America that!!" comments.
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Old 08-29-2014, 11:49 AM
 
Location: Finland
24,144 posts, read 24,703,456 times
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hobbesdj, I understand completely the difference in the US. Commercial downtown centre = well off. Inner city = poor. Suburbs = rich.

But wasn't the whole idea of CITIES, not suburbs? Here, the closer the city centre you go, the more expensive the areas get. It was not about Ellicott City near Baltimore, but Helsinki right here:

https://www.google.fi/maps/@60.16558...EL2rj3XPow!2e0
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Old 08-29-2014, 11:51 AM
 
Location: The land where God created :)
230 posts, read 329,444 times
Reputation: 126
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rams_Lord View Post
What is it you eat in the USA that you cannot find here in Sweden...
Jätte många restauranger.....

However, the pizza and pizza salad & kebab tallrik in Sweden is to die for!
I also love lösviktgodis (candy), wienerbröd, havrebollar, leverpastej yummu
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Old 08-29-2014, 11:52 AM
 
Location: Gatineau, Québec
26,785 posts, read 37,782,011 times
Reputation: 11561
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ariete View Post
The Nordic for sure.

Human friendly urbanism, please. Like here:



This type of urbanism exists in Canadian cities as well. The architecture is different but certainly the central areas of the larger Canadian cities have a lot of this. You can pick a view that shows a highway access point to the downtown if you want to disprove me, but most downtowns in Canada are not highway-choked. And almost every city in the world has these highway access roads in its downtown, even central Paris:

http://goo.gl/maps/Dv3tn
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